Mark Zocchi is founding director of Brolga Publishing and has been in the book trade since 1978. We were impressed with Buddha's Little Book of Life which contains insightful quotations and large dollops of enlightenment from Buddhism and beyond. The same mix of material and format is used to good purpose in The Zen Book of Life. The Japanese brush drawings throughout the book add an elegant touch to the wisdom.

Here are some of our favorites sayings from Zen teachers:

  • "Mindfulness is a shortcut to happiness."
    — Buddhist monk
  • "The highest nobility lies in taming your own mind."
    — Athisa
  • "If you cannot find the truth right where you are, where else do you expect to find it?"
    — Zen Master Dogen
  • "Do not speak — unless it improves on silence."
    — Buddhist saying
  • "A flower falls even though
    we love it and a weed grows
    even though we do not love it."
    — Dogem Zengi
  • "Renunciation is not getting rid of
    things of this world,
    But accepting that they pass away."
    — Robert Aitken Roshi

Here are a few of our favorites from other seers:

  • "Out of clutter,
    find simplicity
    From discord,
    find harmony.
    In the middle of difficulty
    lies opportunity."
    — Albert Einstein
  • "The gap between what is and what 'should be'
    is an ocean of distress."
    — Christina Feldman
  • "Within your own house swells the treasure of joy.
    So why do you go begging from door to door?
    — Sufi saying
  • "When my heart is at peace,
    the world is at peace."
    — Chinese proverb